After 50 Years, Lectra Continues to Move Forward
By Sourcing Journal
Coming up with innovative solutions for the fashion industry while prioritizing sustainability is a challenge, yet having done it for half a century certainly makes it easier. Technology provider Lectra continues to help its clients optimize their workflows for efficiencies and digitalize their supply chains for transparency through ambitious acquisitions, integrating state-of-the-art technologies and artificial intelligence (AI), among other things.
“The first creation that entrepreneurial twin brothers Jean and Bernard Etcheparre, founders of Lectra, started working on was the computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) systems, which helped them pioneer the industry,” said Ketty Pillet, vice president marketing, Americas at Lectra in a fireside chat with Matt Hickman, business reporter at Sourcing Journal. “Today, by integrating the state-of-the-art technologies and acquisitions, Lectra has become a company that helps the fashion, furniture and automotive industry accelerate.”
Expanding its tech footprint further, Lectra acquired a majority stake in textile supply chain traceability platform TextileGenesis in 2022, which helped enable fashion brands and sustainable textile manufacturers to ensure a reliable, secure and fully digital mapping of the full apparel value stream.
While Lectra’s expertise and software solutions encompass everything from on-demand manufacturing to product design and development, the TextileGenesis acquisition allowed the company to serve a new, complementary market demanding traceability and transparency in the apparel supply chain.
“Sustainability is one of the key pillars for our Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR)—Lectra’s policy on setting the standard in transparency and ethical conduct—and acquiring TextileGenesis was part of the strategy,” said Pillet. “The vision for TextileGenesis is not only to create transparency from fiber to retail, but to also ensure the authenticity and provenance of sustainable textiles.”
Another unique tool Lectra offers its clients is the Kubix Link platform. The Kubix platform includes Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), Product Information Management (PIM) and Digital Asset Management (DAM) tools that enable fashion and apparel process stakeholders to consolidate, share and communicate all product-related data through a single funnel from the first sketch to online sales channel.
“Utilizing Kubix Link helps the industry drive the full workload,” said Pillet. “It’s really revolutionizing the industry.”
In hopes of celebrating another 50 years, Lectra is staying 10 steps ahead by looking toward the future. “Looking a few years back, we would’ve never imagined how fast the industry would transform, and I don’t think that will slow down anytime soon. Lectra will continue to innovate by releasing new software several times a year to digitalize the chain,” said Pillet. “I’m really excited to see what the future holds for Lectra. More to come soon.”
To watch the fireside chat, click the image above. For more information, go to https://www.lectra.com/en.
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